N.B.C. Warfare In “Decoherence”

Shat Lords,
In “Decoherence”, we finally see the deployment of a chemical/biological weapon used against the Humans! Hale is seen taking a subcompact pistol and mysterious canister/device from her office safe before attending an emergency board meeting called by Serac. My immediate interpretation of the unknown device was that it was explosive in nature, but in fact turns out to be the most effective means of killing humans in history and in fiction, outside of natural disaster: biological. Humans are squishy meat bags, and very susceptible to environmental and biological exposure. A simple change in air quality, a drop in oxygen content, can cause a myriad of negative effects on us, not to mention being used for mass genocidal killing, a la the Nazis and their “Final Solution”. Sci-fi, and particularly the repeated trope of Machines rising up against Man, has been no stranger to the application of chemical/biological warfare against us meat bags. My favorite telling of this example, and how effective it can be, is The Second Renaissance Part II, from The Animatrix, where the collective world go to war against the Machine nation of 01. Basically, the Humans black out the sky, the primary means of power source for the Machine World, so in response the Machines deploy highly effective plagues and pathogens that ravage Humankind. It was ultimately our undoing, thus resulting humans giving themselves over to subjugation as bio-electric sources of energy to their new machine overlords. The Hosts of the Westworld universe have definitely read up on their history.

Absolutely brilliant episode. Gene, D, Ash, and Rog, you guys are doing spectacular work. I’m along for the ride till the fuckin end.